The Vintage Caravan – Monuments

 

 

The Vintage Caravan – Monuments
Napalm Records – 2021
Rock, Hardrock, Seventies, Prog, Psych, Blues
Rated: *****

Oh, how they have grown! How that sweet seventies inspired rock sound of the Iceland trio The Vintage Caravan has exploded and turned into a majestic wave of musicality. Testament to it all is the new record Monuments. Eleven wild tracks that feel just as proggy as all that goodness that came out of the seventies and just as hard and heavy. And even a slow song, like a late seventies, early eighties ballad, called This One’s For You that reminds in its melody of ‘As The World Falls Down’ by Bowie immediately convinces and takes you with it on its emotional journey. It speaks of the loss of Óskar Logi Ágústsson’s brother and is indeed a highly passionate song. Which is followed by one of the more ominous tracks on the record called Forgotten. A ballsy track that starts out like a heavy trucking, speeding hardrocker and with it’s 8.11 is one of the true cathedrals on Monuments. It has every aspect of The Vintage Caravan in it and it sounds so rounded, so well composed and well-produced, it’s almost scary. The way they also dared to dive more into the personal side of song-writing also shows the amount of growth the power-trio has gone through. Cause the 8 minute, 15 second closing track Clarity is once again a sensitive effort that move into gigantic territory with its choir, when it comes to grand gestures. But don’t think its all heavy on the emotional side; there’s also enough hard rocking riffs, intense drums and wild bass work to enjoy! Just check out Sharp Teeth, Said And Done or Dark Times. Well, I’ve seen them live so many times I lost count; and I definitely can’t wait to see this new material performed live once again! And if it is one of the first shows we will see after the pandemic, things might get a bit too emotional… Once again…

(Written by JK)

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